1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink-jet recording device and to a control method thereof, and relates in particular to an effective technique used for controlling the removal of an ink supply member within which ink used for recording is retained, to an effective technique used for the attachment of a waste ink reservoir in which waste ink is stored, and to an effective technique used for controlling the removal of a waste ink reservoir wherein waste ink is retained.
2. Description of the Related Art
While taking into account the use in living rooms of ink-jet recording devices, a thin and stackable printer has been proposed for which both the detachment of an ink cartridge (ink supply member) and the supply and discharge of recording sheets (recording media) are performed from the front of the device.
A ink-jet recording device in the related art will now be described. FIG. 40 is a perspective view of the exterior of the ink-jet recording device. FIG. 41 is a schematic perspective view of the internal structure of the ink-jet recording device. FIG. 42 is an exterior perspective view of the ink-jet recording device in FIG. 40 wherein a paper discharge tray has been pulled out. FIG. 43 is an exterior perspective view of the ink-jet recording device in FIG. 40 wherein a paper supply tray has been removed. FIG. 44 is an exterior perspective view of the ink-jet recording device in FIG. 40 wherein the front cover has been opened.
As shown in FIG. 40, in the ink-jet recording device, a paper supply tray (medium supply member) 110 is located at a lower position at the front face of the device, and a paper discharge tray (medium discharge member) 111 is located at an upper position.
As shown in FIG. 41, inside the device a carriage 119, wherein a recording head and ink cartridges (ink supply members) 112 are mounted, is supported by a carriage shaft 120 to allow the carriage to reciprocate in the main scanning direction. A pickup roller (not shown) for the individual feeding of recording sheets 138 from the paper supply tray 110 to a lower path which is a part of a paper transporting path; a feed roller 124 for inverting a recording sheet 138 which is transported along the lower path, and guiding the sheet 138 to an upper path which is also a part of the paper transporting path; a transporting roller 125 for transporting the recording sheet 138 along the paper transporting path; and a discharge roller 126 for discharging the recording sheet 138 to the paper discharge tray 111 after recording has been completed, are sequentially located in the direction in which the recording sheet 138 is transported.
In the ink-jet recording device, a recording sheet 138 extracted from the paper supply tray 110 loaded into the front face of the device is supplied to the lower path, internally inverted, and then guided to the upper path. As the recording sheet 138 passes along the upper path, printing is performed thereon, and then, as shown in FIG. 42, the recording sheet 138 is discharged into the paper discharge tray 111 which has been pulled out at the front face of the device.
As shown in FIG. 43, when the paper supply tray 110 is removed, an opening 139 is obtained at the bottom of the device that facilitates the removal from the lower path of a jammed recording sheet 138. As shown in FIG. 44, by opening a front cover 140, the carriage 119 is exposed, and the ink cartridges 112, which are mounted in the carriage 119, can be easily exchanged.
Example techniques for a thin printer are as follows.
Disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No.2001-219620 is a thin, stackable printer including: a base chassis assembly having a box shape with a channel member sandwiched between an upper path and a lower path to support, from the bottom, a sheet medium that is moved along the internal path of the printer; and a removable medium cassette assembly, slidably attached along the lower path, for holding the sheets that are individually supplied as input media and that are discharged from the printer as output media, wherein the channel member has a centrally arranged medium access cutout member that is wide enough and long enough to permit a user to access a sheet medium, which is supported by the channel member, when the medium cassette assembly is removed from the lower path.
Also disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2001-191613 is a thin printer including: a base chassis assembly having an upper path with a satisfactory height, width and depth to allow a sheet medium to be held securely while being moved along a transporting path, and a lower path with a satisfactory height, width and depth to allow a medium cassette which includes an input tray and an output tray to be stored slidably; and a channel member attached between the upper path and the lower path for helping to define a part of the path extending from the input tray to the output tray of the printer, wherein the channel member is constructed with multiple openings, the sizes of which are adequate to permit the easy removal of a jammed medium from the defined portion of the medium path.
Further, disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2001-213019 is a thin, stackable printer including a base assembly having a housing and a base plate and having a height, width and depth that are substantially suitable for a stackable home center electronic apparatus, wherein the base assembly has a bottom opening, centrally formed, having a height, width and depth that is substantially adequate for the slidable storage of a thin medium cassette constituted by an input tray and an output tray, and wherein the base assembly has a thin recording bar for the easy ejection of ink onto a sheet medium that is transported from the input tray to the output tray.
However, the ink-jet recording device has the following problems.
That is, since the ink cartridges 212 and the carriage 219 thereof are positioned so that the ink cartridges 212 must be attached/detached to/from the front of the device, and since the paper discharge tray 211 to which a recording sheet 238 is discharged after recording must be extended out beyond the front face of the device so that it is positioned forward of the main body, this configuration imposes limitations on the usability and the size of the device.
Further, since the front cover 240 must be opened to exchange the ink cartridge 212, greater simplification of the exchange process is required.
In addition, since the ink cartridge 212 is mounted on the carriage 219, as the volume of the cartridge 212 is increased, the size of the carriage 219 must likewise be increased, and this will prevent an improvement in the recording speed.
In order to resolve these problems, an ink cartridge loading unit (ink supply member loading unit), in addition to the paper supply tray 210 and the paper discharge tray 211, should be provided at the front of the device for the detachable mounting of the ink cartridge 212. With the direct external access afforded by this configuration, the exchange of used and new ink cartridges 212 will be more convenient. And as a result, ink cartridge replacement will be easier to perform.
However, the thus arranged ink-jet recording device has the following problems.
While an ink cartridge can be easily attached/detached to/from the front face of the device, the ink cartridge may erroneously be removed, which in this case may produce the following defective results.
First, when an ink cartridge is removed during a period such as a recording period, while ink is flowing from the ink cartridge to the recording head, air bubbles will enter the ink flow path at the location whereat the ink cartridge and the main body of the device are connected, and an ink ejection malfunction may thereafter occur at the recording head.
Even when an ink cartridge is not removed from the main body while ink is flowing, air bubbles, even though in a smaller amount, may still enter the ink flow path and the ink cartridge at the connection between the main body and the ink cartridge. Thus, when the ink cartridge is again loaded into the main body, a pump must be used to discharge an amount of ink, enough to eliminate the adverse effects produced by the air bubbles, through the nozzles of the recording head. Further, additional time is also required for this discharging operation.